Cattle guard for railroads



R. E. WEEDQN ET AL CATTLE GUARD FOR RAILROADS- Filed Oct. 8, 1925 2 Shee tsShee1 l jnmnfoa RE Wedon 15'. C fatewood FZGaZZa da numeral 11 represents the ties.

Patented June 24, 1924.

RICHARD E. WEEDON, EUGENE C. GATEWOOD, AND FRANK E. GOLLADAY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

CATTLE GUARD FOR RAILROADS.

Application fi1ed October 8, 1923.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that RICHARD E. WEEDON, EUGENE C. GATnwooD, and F ANK E. G01.- LADAY, citizens of the United States, residing at \l ashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cattle Guards for Railroads, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to I cattle guards for railroads used at the crossings to prevent cattle from getting up on the railroad track.

Th main object of the invention is to provide a guard of this character which is simple in construction and easy to erect and although forming a complete protection for the tracks, will not in any manner injure the cattle attempting to run up on the same.

In the accompanying drawings one embodiment of the invention is illustrated, and- Figure 1 shows a top plan view of a portion of a railroad track with the guard installed;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section along lin 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary section of a detail;

Figure 4 is a side elevation of a detail;

Figure 5 is an end view of Figure 4, and- Figure 6 is a fragmentary section along line 66 of Figure 1.

In the drawings, reference numeral 10 represents one rail of a track and reference Along the track on either side thereof are placed the usual gate posts 12 upon which an inclined fence 1.3 is placed. This fence consists of leaning bars 14, slats 15, attaching the same to the posts, and longitudinal slats 16 on the side of the fence facing the track.

Between the rails 10 and on the outer sides thereof are placed grilles 17 of somewhat greater length than the length of the fence 13. Each grille is made up of a number of guard rails 18 having the cross section of the truncated pyramid or a right angle trapezoid, as best seen in Figure 6, and having one longitudinal face inclined and the other perpendicular. At the top of each of these guard rails are furnished a number of spikes or pins 27 made of wire or short rods and driven tightly into the guard rails. These pins project preferably one inch above the to of the guard rails and Serial No. 667,251. i i i I l have a diameter of about five eighths of an inch.

At intervals between these guard rails are positioned spacing wedges 19, which are tapered to correspond with the tapering sides of the rails to fill in the space between them. Thes guard rails are held together by means of tie rods 20 running across the guard rails and through the spacing wedges 19 as seen wedges 19 at the ends of the guard rails and extending beyond the tapered ends thereof. These filler blocks engage under the lips on the securing pads 26% or metal clamps, as best seen in Figure 3, and each securing pad is nailed down to the corresponding tie 11 by means of a long spike 23. These securing clamps 24: are counterbored on their under sides, as at 26, some distance up from the bottom around the spikes 23. In this manner the spikes are only held tight in the aperture 25 provided for the same at the upper side of each clamp. The aperture 25 is positioned in axial alinement with the counter-bore 26. This arrangement is made for the purpose of facilitating the insertion and removal of the spikes 23, so that instead of the spikes being held tightly in the clamps for the entire depth of the latter, the lower parts thereof are now free therein. This is considered an advantage in layin and removing the grille on the railroad track.

With this cattle guard positioned at a railroad crossing it will be clearly understood that it is practically impossible for any cattle to enter upon the track because if they attempted to do so their feet would become entangled in the pins 27 and they would soon be discouraged from running further upon the track.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A cattle guard for railroads comprising a grille supported on the ties, said grille including guard rails running in the length mg a right angle trapezoidal cross section,

filler blocks adapted to :fit tightly between said guard rails, and securing bolts running transversely through said guard rails and said filler blocks, certain of said filler blocks extending beyond the ends of said guard rails, and means adapted to engage said extending filler blocksfor securing the grille on the ties.

2. A cattle guard for railroads comprising a grille supported on the ties, said grille including guard rails running in the length direction of the track, said guardrails having a rightangle trapezoidal cross section, filler blocks adapted to fit tightly between said guard rails, securing bolts running transversely through said guard rails and said filler blocks, upwardly projecting pins driven into said guard rails along the narrow upper face thereof; certain of said filler blocks extending beyond the ends of said guard rails, and means for securing the grille on the ties, said means including metallic clamps having projecting lips adapted to over-lie the projecting ends of said certain filler blocks.

3. A cattle guard for railroads comprising a grille supported on the ties, said grille including guard rails running in the length direction of the track, said guard rails having a right angle trapezoidal cross section, filler blocks adapted to fit tightly between said guard rails securing bolts running transversely through said guard rails and said filler blocks, upwardly projecting pins driven into said guard rails along the nar row upper face thereof; certain of said filler blocks extending beyond the ends of said guard rails, means for securing the grille on the ties, said means including metallic clamps having projecting lips adapted to over-lie the projecting ends of said certain filler blocks, and spikes to be driven into the ties, said clamps having apertures for tightly engaging the upper ends of the spikes and counter-bores of larger diameter than the corresponding portion of the spikes.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

RICHARD E. VVEEDON. [n s] EUGENE C. GATEVVOOD. [11. s]

FRANK GOLLADAY. EL. 8. 

